September 25th, 2012 (“Dakishmetai”)

It’s amazing how some of the most influential bands were also some of the most short lived. Take The Doors. It was only 8 years before Jim Morrison was found dead in a bathtub.

Perhaps like a nuclear reaction these bands burn too hot and too fast—mere blips in history that nonetheless leave an irrevocable mark on our lives.

Happy End, a Japanese folk rock band likened to the “Japanese Beatles”, did just that. From 1970 to 1972 (and with two reunion shows in ’73 and ’85) the band released three studio albums of “pioneering avant-garde sound”. Way ahead of the curve and like nothing else endogenous to Japan at the time, they were hugely popular and are still widely considered to be one of the most influential bands in Japanese music history.

Today’s song—I Want to Hold You—is the first track off of Rolling Stone Japan’s greatest Japanese rock album of all time—Wind City Romance.

The song starts off slow with a smooth Haruomi Hosono bass line, light drums by Takashi Matsumoto. Short after, Eiichi Ohtaki and Shigeru Suzuki come in on guitar and vocals (not sure which one is which), sporting funky bluesy riffs and laid back lyrics.

I suggest checking out all the songs on this album. You may recognize Kaze wo Atsumete from the movie Lost In Translation.